Federal law prohibits retaliation by your employer when you complain about not being properly paid. This means that it is illegal for your employer to take any retaliatory action in response to you raising a wage-related issue, such as not being paid in a timely manner, being underpaid, and misclassifying employees as exempt in order to avoid having to pay overtime. The law protects your right to make a complaint to your employer or government agency and be free from retaliation, even if the underlying basis of the complaint is ultimately found to be legal. A retaliation claim may be maintained not only against your employer, but any person who took the retaliatory action (such as your supervisor).
What Qualifies as Retaliation?
Retaliation covers a range of adverse employment actions, and includes:
- Termination;
- Demotion;
- Denial of a promotion or raise or bonus;
- Transfer to a less desirable position or office;
- A less desirable shift or less hours; and
- Creation of a hostile workplace environment.
What Can I Recover?
In addition to recovering any unpaid wages you may be owed, you may also recover front wages (for example, wages you lost as a result of being terminated), as well as other potential amounts (for example, money to compensate you for the emotional distress of being terminated). You may also be reinstated to your position. Retaliation claims are significant.
Jason Conway represents employees in connection with their retaliation claims, including where employees have been wrongly terminated. Your work is important. Ensuring that you are properly paid and not retaliated against is important to us. If you think you have been retaliated against by your employer, contact Jason Conway. We can sniff a retaliation claim from a mile away and will move heaven and earth to recover your wages.